The United States shed 467,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate rose from 9.4 to 9.5 percent, the highest rate since August 1983, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today.

The numbers surprised almost all analysts, who had been predicting job loss in the 300-thousands.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 433,000 over the month to 4.4 million. 30 percent of unemployed people fall under the long-term unemployed umbrella.

Employment in the professional and services sector (most of us) declined by 118,000 in June, bringing the number of jobs lost in this sector since the beginning of the recession to 848,000.